Right Software Systems is the Key to Prospering in the Current Climate

Seems that 88% of senior finance and IT professionals believe it is important to have the right software systems in place if businesses are to prosper in the current economic climate. That is the findings of document management software company, Version One (www.versionone.co.uk). 60% of these consider the right software systems “vital”.

The research was carried with 160 senior finance and IT professionals across a range of public and private sector organisations.According to the SOURCEWIRE, of the remaining 12% of respondents, 10% believe it is “fairly important” to have the right software systems in place whilst the remaining 2% stated they did not know whether software systems were important to helping a business prosper or not. One of the “don’t know” respondents, a financial controller from a food manufacturing company, said, “The key to our business is customer contact, not how we operate internally”.

Lynne Munns, General Manager of Version One, says, “This research demonstrates that organisations recognise how vital it is to have the right software systems in place to enable them to not only survive during these turbulent times but also to flourish. Software systems such as document management enable organisations to streamline their processes, cut costs and have greater financial transparency which are obviously key in the current climate. Organisations that fail to carefully consider their software needs are often running an inefficient and wasteful operation which can prove particularly damaging during challenging economic times.”

Munns comments, “It’s understandable that businesses are considering document management in part due to the economic downturn as these systems deliver significant cost and time savings whilst improving cash flow, enabling a lean and efficiently-run operation.”Finally 62% of the survey’s 160 respondents feel that if UK businesses are to flourish at this time, they need to streamline their internal processes AND invest in the right software systems. 23% stated that improving internal processes alone would be sufficient while 7% thought that just investing in software systems is the answer. The remaining 8% put forward some alternative suggestions to how organisations can prosper in the current climate. These include “reducing staff overheads”, “investing in training” and “improving customer satisfaction levels”.